This website is a collection of my writings which primarily deals with issues of political and socio-economic issues in the Caribbean.
It also contains links to important resources on the region and it's people.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

It has been four years since Haiti was struck by the January 12
earthquake of 2010. While many mainstream newspapers try to whitewash
the worst failures of the international community’s reconstruction
effort, the Center for Economic and Policy Research published a
thorough, albeit disturbing list of figures outlining the troubled state of reconstruction in Haiti.
Many of these persistent problems are linked to the ongoing history
of international intervention in Haiti, whereby the rights of
international investors trample the self-determination, sovereignty, and
emancipation of the Haitian people.

In contrast to the neocolonial actions of the United States, Canada, and
others who have worked to undermine Haiti’s reconstruction, stands
Venezuela—now one of Haiti’s key allies, and one who has broken from the
anti-people reconstruction policies and aligned itself in solidarity
with, rather than in domination to, the Haitian people.

Perhaps the most well known Venezuelan assistance to Haiti has come in the form of the low cost of oil that Venezuela’s PetroCaribe program
has made available. During Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s first
visit to Haiti in June 2013, Haitian President Michel Martelly discussed the impact of
the funds generated by the PetroCaribe agreement: “I would like to say
very loudly that PetroCaribe funds represent 94% of our investment
funds, which means that the majority of what is being done in Haiti has
been realized with PetroCaribe funds….Government buildings are being
rebuilt, social housing is being built and we are talking about
increasing national production, about continuing with the free tuition
education program and alphabetization.”

But in recent months, as tensions between Haiti and its neighboring
Dominican Republic rise over the most explicitly racist immigration
control measures of the hemisphere, Venezuela’s support has grown to
encompass not only economic, but also diplomatic assistance as well.

The Dominican Republic’s high-court ruling of September 2013, often referred to as the “sentencia” (“judgement”), strips citizenship
from hundreds of thousands of residents of Haitian descent,
retroactively denying citizenship to anyone born in the Dominican
Republic to undocumented parents dating back to 1929. The decision
sparked outrage within Haiti, the diaspora, and human rights circles;
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights denounced the decision, stating that beyond discriminatory, it deprives Dominican-born Haitians a nationality, violating their rights.

Venezuela's Maduro
has led the initiative in bringing the Dominican and Haitian
governments together in bilateral conversations about the ruling. On the
sidelines of the December meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative of the
Americas (ALBA) and PetroCaribe, Maduro chaired a meeting
between the two countries—an initiative that resulted in a bilateral
committee that will work on issues related to trade, migration,
environment, security, and the border. Furthermore, Venezuela would
provide a special envoy to help mediate the conflict, with CARICOM and the European Union acting as observers.

It was only after the creation of this bi-lateral committee that the
United States finally broke its long-held silence on the issue. On
December 18, the day after Maduro’s diplomatic success, the U.S.
Department of State’s deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf commented: “We've
urged the (Dominican Republic) Government to continue close
consultation with international partners and civil society to identify
and expeditiously address, in a humane way, concerns regarding the
planned scope and reach to affected persons.”

In a broadcast aired on December 24, Maduro revealed that he had been
working with the governments of the two countries to re-start bilateral
talks for over one month. During an interview with the Venezuelan
newspaper Últimas Noticias, Maduro remarked, “We
are unconditional brothers with the Haitian people and whoever messes
with the people of Haiti messes with the people of Venezuela.”

Insightfully, Maduro also pointed out the historical role of
colonialism in fomenting the divisions between Haitians and Dominicans
and elsewhere in Latin America, stating: “We
have to overcome the historical obstacle that the old colonialisms have
left us and that at time is seen around, such as the oligarchy, the
right, that permanently are trying to put forward the issue of hate
against the people of Guyana, hate against the Colombian people, hate
against Latin America, the anti-Bolivarian hate.”
Since the earthquake, international coverage of Haiti has been
dominated by the patchwork celebrity philanthropy of characters like Bill Clinton, Wyclef Jean and Bono;
a challenge to these neoliberal post-earthquake reconstruction efforts
is being set by Venezuela's model of international cooperation today.